1875. ] 
NEGRO LARGO FIG.—PECULIARITIES OF VINE-CULTURE. 
19 
thoroughly saturated ; this plan he considers better than dribbling water on the 
top of the compost, a procedure which leaves one uncertain as to whether the 
ball is well moistened or not. The same grower uses small pots (48’s and 32’s), 
and so full of fine fleshy white roots are these that I have seen him repeatedly 
take hold of the leaves above the bulbs and lift them from the trenches when 
watering in this manner. The remarks as to sphagnum-moss are very good, and 
it is very rare to see any Orchid unhealthy when the surface is covered with this 
material in a thriving state.—F. W. B. 
NEGRO LARGO FIG. 
JT is very satisfactory to hear so excellent a report of the new Negro Largo 
Fig , from so good a grower as Mr. Henderson, of Thoresby. The great 
merits of this Fig do not consist merely in its size, its lusciousness, or its 
beauty, much and uniformly as these testify in its favour, but include also 
its great prolificacy, and its characteristic property of bearing fruit when very 
young—good qualities, the existence of which Mr. Henderson so thoroughly con¬ 
firms. It may be stated as a fact that the smallest plants when being u worked,” 
and such as may sometimes possess but three or four pairs of leaves, have pro¬ 
duced their two or three fine, well-finished, and well-ripened fruits. What 
greater recommendation can any Fig have than this?— William Earley, 
Valentines , Ilford. 
PECULIARITIES OF VINE-CULTURE. 
S HE arrangement of the atoms that constitute the Vine is an old story, yet 
it is never tedious like the u twice-told tale.” The corn and wine of 
f Homer, with the canisters of bread, and the flagons of wine, show clearly 
that the culture of the Vine was studied in those early days, not to men¬ 
tion the instances in the Old Testament, wherein we read of wine pressed from 
grapes in wine-presses, differing perhaps not much from chose of the present 
day. The Vine is always a determined grower, and a sure fruiter, having all the 
perseverance of a weed when once established. It is this free-growing character 
of the Vine that has misled so many as to the true methods of culture, for 
anybody can grow it, in pretty nearly any locality in the kingdom, not too far 
north. The wonder is that a plant so handsome in its foliage, is not more grown 
than it is for its shade, leaving out all ideas of fruiting it; besides, green grapes, 
sour as they are, may still be used like green gooseberries, where there can be 
no hope of their berries ripening. 
In cultivating the Vine in well-appointed glass houses, we have the advan¬ 
tage of studying the proclivities of the plant, for there seems to be an intelligence 
among the atoms of this plant that leads them to run in a certain rut, and to ex¬ 
hibit with great vehemence either love for or aversion to the treatment given 
them. For example, the radical blunder of having a good vinery with a bad 
border, will manifest itself by the shabby show of fruit and the plentiful supply 
o 2 
